Post by on Apr 18, 2006 19:26:37 GMT -5

I'll be leaving from my hometown, Street, MD (tiny-ass town in Harford County, MD) wed afternoon. We made it from the top of MD all the way to Manchester in almost exactly 13 hours (I forget how, or if we included the time zone change at all) so the ride is about 12 hours or so from D.C. Last year we left wed night, got to the line for bonnaroo at about 10 am. The wait was about 3 hours or so. This year I plan on leaving in the afternoon in hopes of hitting Manchester as sunrise with less of a wait. My advice to DC/MD/VA attendees . . . leave before, not after dinner on wednesday and you should arrive right on time.

Post by on Apr 20, 2006 9:52:25 GMT -5

Actually, yes, I work in Bel Air, its only like 10 min south of me, and its the biggest "city" for like 25 miles.

And yea, jerkface, I've seen, firsthand the problems of arriving early. My friends last year pulled in wednesday nite and got stuck on the other side of everything, across the bridge (I assume this is what BFE is). For some reason the first 5,000 people or so get bad spots isolated from the rest of bonnaroo, its weird. Last year I arrived about 10 hours after them, about 10 am, and actually pulled through the gates at about 1 pm. My spot was nice, not the best but only about 10 min walk. I feel like if I had been 3 hours earlier or so I would have timed it perfectly, hence the sunrise arrival.

Post by misterjerkface on May 4, 2006 5:40:39 GMT -5

Google Maps is the best (true that, double true)

I think I'm gonna google map it. I know there are a few people in my area that're looking into meeting up somewhere, maybe caravaning, but no definite plans were made. As of right now, it's looking like Google will have to save the day once again.

Post by iSkew on May 4, 2006 6:16:11 GMT -5

I have found that one of the best ways, even though it looks kinda silly, is to do 81->40 but then take interstate to Chattanooga (I can't remember which one- 74?) and then back up 24 for Manchester. All Interstate, dotted with stops if you need them.

Post by Jellyfish on May 4, 2006 10:45:19 GMT -5

weSkew --

That's the way to go from DC area, definitely; 66>81>40>75>24

A word of caution: when I-24 dips into Georgia after Chatanooga DO NOT get off interstate, lured by low GA gas taxes: we did in 2004 and ran into GA county police roadblock looking for Bonnaroovian excess. And they seemed to have gotten plenty. Further, they were there last year also.